Strike Witches: Cannons on the high seas
by Hayane234
Summary: Witches flying through the sky Neuroi on the seas? things are going to get interesting real fast. watch as the world's first naval neuroi tackles a world of magic, beams and roaring engines.
1. Apologies

Hi Hayane234 here, finally with the rewrite of Strike witches: Cannons on the high seas.

But First I would like to apologise profusely for how long this took to rewrite. What with the combination of no motivation at times, family/personal matters, new stories and other rewrites that had to be taken care off and fighting the constant enemy that is boredom.

Well the wait is finally over and I hope you enjoy the new and improved story, a lot of things have been added/changed and references are abound, see if you can spot them.

So without further ado please enjoy Strike Witches: Cannons on the high seas!


	2. Battlefield Setup

Date: September 16th

Time 15:00,

Year 1943,

Location: Off the coast of Okinawa, Fuso

The seas were calm and the wind was gentle on a bright sunny afternoon. Here we can see a few seagulls riding the wind coming upon what seems to be a fleet at rest and if one looked closely enough. You could see people resting and playing on the beach nearby.

What you are seeing is not a figment of your imagination, oh no what you are seeing is one of the most advanced fleets known to the land of Fuso. The Remote Control Experimental Fleet or RCEF for short. Now I bet you are wondering why such a fleet had a name like this, as well as what they are doing here in the first place. Well I'll tell you.

As for why the fleet had been named the way it had, had to do with the fleet itself. You see almost a third of fleet was unmanned, all except for one but we'll come back to that later. The ships reasoning for being unmanned was that they were being 'Remote Controlled' by the other ships in the fleet, hence the 'RC' in the fleet's name.

The remote control technology varied from ship to ship. They included RF transmitters/receivers, fly-by-wire control as seen in the IFM, Imperial Fuso Military, with their tanks and as for the one manned RC ship. It was controlled via a handheld wireless RF control board. Each type of remote control method had varying degrees of success with some performing better than the others and that leads us onto why the fleet is at rest.

Due to the successful completion of a set of naval exercises that had been carried out earlier in the day. The fleet commander decided that the fleet deserved the rest of the day off in order to let off some steam and relax.

Said fleet commander was herself resting in the Captain's quarters of her ship going over the day's reports trying to get them finished as fast as she could.

Time: 15:40

Location: IFN Minazuki's Captain's quarters

' _And that's the last one. Thank god that's over'_ I said to myself whilst slouching in my chair. Hello my name is Mikan Sayama and yes I'm named after a type of orange so what. I'm 35 years old, I stand at at an above average 5"8' and I have long lavender hair and similarly coloured eyes. I'm also the RCEF commander holding the rank of captain.

I've worked hard getting to where I am today and to be honest with you I'm glad that I can be of use in testing and helping perfect new technologies that will help beat back the menace of this world, the Neuroi.

' _I hope she can forgive me someday for saying that with disdain'_ I said to myself before a knock on the door snapped me out of my musing.

"Who is it?" I asked

"Vice captain Mura Moriyama, ma'am" she replied

"Come in" I replied.

The door then opened and the woman walked in. This person here is Mura Moriyama and she holds the rank of vice-captain, she is also my elder sister. She's 36 years old, stands at 5"4' and has knee length dark blue hair and has hazel coloured eyes.

"Vice Captain Mura Moriyama, reporting as requested" she said whilst saluting

"Nee-san we can call each other by name when we are alone " I said chuckling

"If you say so Mikan" Mura said relaxing and taking a seat. Whilst I pulled out some glasses and a bottle of dry sake for us to indulge on before we started chatting with one another.

Our talks then drifted onto the status of the fleet, mainly how each of the individual ships were faring in their day to day life. The talk then went onto the last ship in the fleet roster, the Battlecruiser Amagi.

Now the Amagi was not really supposed to be here with the fleet, due to an earthquake that occurred a few years back that went and caused the ship to become FUBAR. However just as this fleet was being made, there was a shortage of ships. So after an extensive search the higher ups couldn't find any ships to spare.

It was at this point the Amagi's hull, which was kept for scrapping, was found. Seeing as this was the only option they had. The Amagi was immediately rushed back into construction and was finished to its original class specifications. It was then after she was finished and launched that she was handed over to my fleet for testing purposes.

Time: 16:15

It was now onto another subject that had popped up and so I asked…

"How is she doing"

"She's doing just fine. Everything you have thrown at her, she took head on and never faltered and apart from the occasional power spike. Not much has really happened." Mura said

"It's because of those power spikes that I'm afraid Nee-san…. What's the status of _those?_ " I asked

"As for the first 'object', the sensors in the relay room have shown that the system had become partially activated during her power spikes." Mura took a swig of her drink before continuing

"As for the second thing, during her last physical…. I'm sorry to say this nee-chan but its half activated and getting stronger each day. It seems the seals have weakened over the years and it seems that there is not long left before the rest comes undone" she finished saying in a gloomy manner

"Dammit!" I yelled slamming my fist onto the table

"Sis calm down"

It took me a little while to calm myself down, mainly by sticking my head out the porthole to get some fresh air. I then sat back down and took a sip of my drink before the thunderous roar of some footsteps could be heard.

"Kaa-san, I'm going over to cousin's ship for dinner" A voice yelled

"Okay be careful Yuzu" Mura yelled

"I will" the voice said before the thunderous roar of footsteps could be heard once more.

That little bundle of joy is nee-san's daughter Yuzu Moriyama. 14 years old stands at 4"7' and has the exact same hair and eye colour as her mother. She is a bit of a handful to be honest, as she just can't seem to sit still at all. I should also mention that she is one of our resident witches in this fleet.

Once Yuzu was out of range we started to talk again about various things to take my mind off what we discussed.

Time: 16:35

Location: Amagi's deck

' _Dinner time is soon I wonder what I should cook?'_ I thought to myself in a cheery tone. Hi there my name is Izumi Sayama. I'm 14 years old, I stand at 4"5' and I have lavender, from my mother, knee length hair and I also have bright blue eyes. I used to have teal eyes in the past but I can't remember when they changed colour and for some reason they glow slightly at night. That creeped me out at first when I was younger but I slowly got used to it.

Anyway I bet you are wondering what I'm doing here on the Amagi, well it's my job. I hold the rank of Sub-Lieutenant and I'm the runner, so to speak, of the Amagi's Remote Control systems. It's thanks to my background in electronics and radio's that I'm here under the command of my Kaa-san. That's right Captain Sayama is my Kaa-san. I'm also a special kind of witch, I'm the world's first naval witch!

Anyways after finally deciding on what to cook tonight the sounds of a pair of twin Nakajima sakae 21 engines snaps me out of my musings and when I look up to where the sounds are coming from. I see my cousin Yuzu which reminded me that I was cooking for dinner for two tonight.

"Hi Izumi" she yelled waving as she went past

"Hi Yuzu, I'll meet you inside and I'll get started on dinner" I yelled back

"Got it" she replied as she went to land and with that I headed indoors and went straight to the kitchen and started to make dinner.

As Yuzu joins her cousin in the kitchen, everything is well. However there is something that needs to be expanded upon and this it what Izumi meant by being a naval witch. Basically instead of using the striker units like her cousin does, she uses her magic to power the Amagi in its entirety . Thanks in part to the marine magical engines co-developed by Orussia and Fuso.

These engines are in the final testing phase in order for them to become a viable option to replace coal/oil fired engines of other ships. But the way in which Izumi transfers her magic to the engines is odd to say the least.

Apparently a special conductive material has been infused with the metal of the Amagi which allows the transfer of magic to the engines. As for where the material comes from or who made it, is currently unknown.

There is one last thing to address and it comes back to what was being said between the Captain and Vice captain earlier. You see, only known to them and a few of the other higher ups in the fleet the Amagi, as well as Izumi herself, harbours a secret.

Neither of these two secrets are known Izumi as well as the other members of the fleet, but in the near future both of those secrets shall become known.

Location: Unknown

To the untrained eye the ocean seemed as if it were glass with not a ripple in sight however sailing across its surface was a ship, now you may think that this ship belonged to one the world's navies.

But you would be wrong this ship was pure black with red hexagonal panels dotted around its surface, it was a Neuroi ship heading in an unknown direction and whoever came across its path would know chaos and destruction and wouldn't see it coming…

" **SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"**


	3. Ready FIGHT!

Time: 08:00

Date: 5th October

Year: 1943

Current Location: In transit along eastern Fuso Coastline

Destination: Kure naval yard for resupply

It had been just over a week since the Fleet had come to rest and now they were on the move again, the main reason for this was to head for a supply run at Kure naval base. At first they were scheduled to head there anyway. But now they had to pick up the pace as they were really running low on supplies after the vice captain's birthday party the previous night.

But the journey was not an easy one at the current time, seeing as a storm had appeared without warning and catching the ships off guard. This led to Captain Sayama to enact a state of lockdown on all ships in the fleet, which meant that no one could leave the ships and had to stay in doors at all times until they were clear of the storm.

Location: Minazuki's Bridge

"Well this storm has put a spanner in the works, hasn't it" the communications officer spoke

"Unfortunately yes it has. We have no choice but to grin and bear it and hopefully make it to Kure in one piece and take no damage from the storm or anything else" I said

"Dammit captain you just jinxed us!" another person yelled

"Crap" I said facepalming.

Location: Amagi's Captain's Quarters

' _And that's the last adjustment that's need to be made, at least for now''_ I thought to myself as I finished adjusting some dials on the control board. This storm had really made things hard on the fleet, but we just have to power on through and hope nothing else bad happens.

"Crap, I just jinxed myself didn't I" I said out loud to no one in particular before my stomach decided to brew up a storm of its own

"Well, time to eat I guess" I said as I got up out of my seat then I headed to the kitchen to make some food for myself,

After I had grabbed the food I made my way to the bridge to eat. For some weird reason whenever I sit in a place when it's raining I become really calm. After awhile I moved back to my quarters and turned on the comms system and started to play my piano.

You see whenever there is a calm time, ironic really seeing as we are in the middle of a storm, amongst the fleet I sing from a list of songs that has been voted on by the crews of the various ships. The song that then has the highest amount of votes I then play for them. It's a win-win, I win because I get to practice my singing and piano playing and the fleet wins because they get to hear the results of my training.

"Today's song by popular vote is….. If you are but a dream from Liberion" I said in a mock announcer tone getting giggles from everyone else. So with a deep breath and cracking of some knuckles are started my performance…..

If you are but a dream

I hope I never waken,

It's more than I could bear

To find that I'm forsaken.

If you're a fantasy

Then I'm content to be

In love with lovely you,

And pray my dream comes true.

I long to kiss you

But I would not dare,

I'm so afraid that

You may vanish in the air,

So darling,

If our romance would break up,

I hope I never wake up,

If you are but a dream.

Once the last note was played a thunderous applause came from the radio "Thank you, Thank you" I said in a mocking tone before yawning.

"Captain, permission to rest for awhile until we reach the yard" I asked

"Permission granted, get some rest my dear" Kaa-san replied and so off I went to my bedroom and I immediately fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Time: 14:00

Location: just passed Nakajima Island heading into Aki-nada sea

The fleet had progressed slowly and cautiously through the storm and are now on the home straight after just passing nakajima island. With the home straight in sight the fleet's hope for arriving at the naval yard safely seemed high, however fate is a fickle beast to tame, it either goes your way or it doesn't, and for this fleet fate had other ideas.

"Neuroi detected! I repeat Neuroi detected!" said the radar operator which set the lot of us on edge and just a few seconds later our worst fears were confirmed as the all too familiar barrage of red beams could be seen soaring through the skies just a few kilometers ahead but the beams weren't aiming for us, they were instead heading for the fleet that was defending the naval yard.

"Damn it to hell!" I roared slamming my fist on the armrest. I then immediately picked up the radio handset and barked

"This is a notice to all ships BATTLE STATIONS this is not a drill I repeat to all ships BATTLE STATIONS" and with that the klaxon roared in the storm confirming the my orders.

"Spotter get me details on that neuroi and quickly, I want to know what we are dealing with before firing any shots" I yelled at the spotter

"Yes Ma'am" she replied and rushed over to the telescope. A few moments later "Neuroi confirmed it is not an aerial type it's one of the ship based Neuroi that have recently appeared, class is unconfirmed must be a new type"

"That's not really enough to go on, but none the less with need to sink it, attention all ships we will now engage the neuroi in a wedge formation now line up and let's do some damage!" I said.

After the order was given I looked out of the window and saw that all of the ships formed up the right way with manned in the front and RC'ed in the rear, the neuroi was not that far ahead of us and when we got closer to it they saw the carnage it had wrought, most of the fleet was decimated with the smaller ships trying their best to defend but it was no good as the neuroi ship was getting closer to its target.

"All ships open fire" I yelled across the radio leading to the thunderous roar of cannons across all ships leading to the neuroi taking a pounding but the core was not hit leading it to changes its course heading towards the attacking fleet.

"Dammit, everyone prepare for full engagement" I said as another beam passed by the its was at this point I saw Yuzu take off from the rear of the ship and took off.

' _Dear goddess Amaterasu, please watch over Yuzu from the heavenly plains'_ I prayed as I watched Yuzu begin her assault .

The roar of the cannons had startled Izumi leading her to fall out of her bed and onto the floor.

"Owwwwwwww that freaking hurt!" she yelled in pain after that another round of cannon fire took place after that a red glow could be seen from the porthole of Izumi's bedroom " _That means…."_

"Shit the Miyazumi been hit no response" a radioman yelled this caused Izumi to get into high gear and head for the bridge taking the controller with her and sending a barrage of rounds of her own in the process. When she reached the bridge all she could see was chaos with the Neuroi ship causing most of it.

The fleet was holding strong against its enemy but alas the Neuroi kept honing its shots and suddenly ships left, right and center were either getting hit or blown up upon contact with the beams the Neuroi was flinging everywhere, deep down Izumi was starting to get worried because the radio mast had took a hit and no communication from any other ships could be heard.

Izumi immediately picked up the telescope and scanned for her mother's ship and when she found it she immediately picked up speed in order to assist, however just as she started to get close the worst occurred as she saw the Minazuki get hit and it started to list… it was then that the true power of Amagi would be released.

Seeing my Kaa-san's ship sinking like that, made a range different emotions well up from inside and those feeling mainly consisted of regret and sadness. But the main prevailing emotion was that of an almost unsurpassable feeling of rage at what the neuroi had done. so I made my way to the front of my ship as I made her accelerate to the front of the pack.

I made it there in record time and just as the neuroi had fired heading straight for me, the beam was blocked by what I could only make out as blue hexagonal shields that pulsed constantly as they were getting hit.

It was at this point the Neuroi saw that it wasn't going to break through anytime soon, so it switched to a large charged beam attacks. I managed to block the first one but the second one was so strong that I hit the deck head first and hit it hard, so hard that I blanked out.

 _-Flashback-_

" _You foolish human, why did you protect me!" a voice yelled whilst sobbing_

" _Hime-sama, this human can't be saved" another elder voice said_

" _I concur with first" a younger voice said_

" _No, I won't have this. she protected me even though she knew the dangers of her power. I will save her!" The voice roared as I opened my eyes seeing fire all around the four of us but I couldn't make out their faces._

" _Don't worry a-about me" I choked out "At least you are safe" I smiled weakly_

" _No!, you're my first friend I've made here. you saved me now it's time for me to save you" the girl said pulling out a blue object_

" _Hime-sama,..." the elder one said_

" _I've made my decision…. Human this will save your life however you will not be the same…." she started to say but I grabbed her arm and said_

" _D-do it"_

" _Very well, then live my friend!" she roared before she thrust the blue object into my chest as I screamed in pain before blacking out._

 _-End-_

I awoke with a start and gasped for air, I got up and saw the neuroi was still trying to take me down but it still couldn't break past the shield. This had allowed the other ships to back off and get behind me. Thankful that everyone else was safe I turned and face the neuroi before something deep inside me clicked and I felt a familiar power surge through my body.

"Hime-sama…. Thank you" I said as a tear trickled down my face

"Alright let's do this you neuroi bastard…. **NEUROI DRIVER!"** I roared as a bright blue light engulfed the area.

The changes that I saw happened to me started with my hands as they were covered with black gloves with blue hexagons on the back, next was my my lower arms which were covered with what seemed to be gauntlets with three toothed gears in them. I then felt light as I was lifted up by something and I looked down to see that I was floating as my feet were covered by black boots with pulsing blue lines and gems that had appeared.

I was then surprised by the sound of something unfolding and saw black and blue edged blades as they shot out of the boots at angle and stopped just above my waist. The last thing to appear was a blue display that appeared like a pair of welding goggles over my eyes. I then saw some information being displayed but mainly it was a targeting reticule that I recognised the most.

The light then faded and I saw that everything was still, the other ships weren't firing anymore and the neuroi had fell silent as well. It was then that I heard a familiar voice…..

" _You can now use your full power….. be careful"_ the voice said before fading. I then knew what I had to do "Go big or go home" I yelled as I started to increase my output.

I then heard a *CLUNK* and a *WHIRR" and then the ship started to glow blue as it started to rumble and my attention got drawn to the back of the ship and what I saw was the stern had split open leading the ship to look like it had wings at the back, next two pylons popped up in an arch and had raised a little before locking into place.

It was then a whirring sound that sounded like a siren started to be made. After that two large turbine-like discs started to what appeared to be floating out of the deck and had taken position above the top of the conning tower but they started to turn getting faster and faster as they did.

I then looked down and saw that the gears on the gauntlets had started spinning and was now arcing blue energy which then spread quickly throughout my body and into the ship. It was then that the turbines had started to spin and gather energy.

Once I knew the energy was sufficient I turned towards the neuroi, who seemed to be trying to get away, and prepared a mental firing trigger. "Nice try but it's not enough, it is time to LET THE CANNONS ROAR!" I yelled using the mental trigger to fire the cannon which released a bright blue beam directly at the neuroi smashing through its barrier and completely annihilating it causing a huge explosion once the beam had faded.

After that the ship and myself had reverted to how it was before leaving an me exhausted on the deck as I tried to head back inside but tripped onto the floor. " _Mother…."_ was the last thing I tried to say before slipping into unconsciousness.


	4. Revelations

Time: Unknown

Date: Unknown

Location: Unknown

"Mmmmm…..no….no….MOTHER!" I screamed at the top of my lungs sitting bolt upright in the bed startling a nurse causing her to fall back on the chair in shock.

I start to look around to find myself in an unfamiliar place and as I look around even more I lock eyes with the nurse before she bolts out of the room shouting doctor at the top of her lungs.

It took a few moments for me to gather my thoughts as I look around some more and finally I realize that I'm in a hospital somewhere. I decided to look around the room again and found a calendar next to a clock but to my shock it wasn't the start of october as it was when I passed out it was now the start of november I had been out of it for a month, an entire month.

It took me awhile to calm down and regather my thoughts so I decided to open the window to get some air for myself and when I looked I saw Kure naval yard just a few miles away completely unharmed and it seems that work busily continuing on. I breathed a sigh of relief that nothing bad had occurred.

"Izumi…" a voice said causing me to turn around and as I did my eyes immediately became full of tears "Kaa-san…. Kaa-san" I tried to move but before I could I was grabbed in a full on hug by Kaa-san with both of us crying and saying how we had thought we lost each other in the battle. It took a good half an hour for the two of us to fully calm down and dry our tears and by this time it was lunch so Kaa-san went to the cafeteria and got some food for the two of us

When I got back and sat beside my daughter Izumi asked "Kaa-san"

"Hmmm?"

"What has happened during the month i've been out?" I took a moment to gather my thoughts before I started to explain..

In the days after the battle all remaining ships were required to recover all personnel that were in the water and head back to the docks for inspection and repair whilst all injured personnel were taken to the nearby hospital which included Izumi after they found her on the Amagi's deck.

After that minor damaged ships took priority and were repaired quickly and set out on patrols in the local area, whilst the other more damaged ships were then pulled in for repairs.

Meanwhile the local populace had started to ask questions on what the hell happened that night, and it took awhile and mainly pressure from the heads of the navy but finally the heads of the RC program came forward and disclosed as much information about the weapon system installed on the Amagi bearing the name MDCS or Magical Discharge Cannon System in its fully named form. They didn't bother explaining how the system worked because the populace would not understand it at all…

"The explanation was a week ago and now here we are speaking to each other after you woke up" Mikan said finishing her explanation

"Arigatou Kaa-san for bringing me up to date" Izumi replied smiling.

I decided that it was now or never and this would probably be the only chance to tell her.

"Sweetie Listen" I said gaining her attention

"What is it Kaa-san?" she replied

"Well, how do I say this ummmm…"

"Kaa-san…" Izumi said starting to get worried

"You know what screw it. Listen Izumi you are not fully human, you are half neuroi" I blurted out and to my surprise instead of her screaming and shouting liked I thought she would. I saw a smile on her face

"I know Kaa-san" she said before struggling to get out of her bed and standing straight and then she muttered something and she was then engulfed in a bright blue light. When the light died down what I saw left me gobsmacked, there Izumi was standing no levitating in front me in black and blue armour. But I knew what it really was.

"Neuroi…. form" I croaked out

"Yep" she replied

"H-how"

"It happened during the battle, a flashback caused me to remember the fire and how that person saved me" Izumi said coming out of the form and hopping back into her bed

"So you know everything" I said getting a nod in return

"I-I'm so sorry Izumi" I said before crying

"For what?"

"Keeping everything from you" I said holding my head my hands

"I forgive you Kaa-san" she said causing me to stare at her in shock

"B-but"

"I'm sure you had your reasons kaa-san and I don't blame you for it. The past is the past let's focus on the present shall we" she said smiling causing me to break down again and hug her to which she stroked my back in order to calm myself down.

It took a good couple of minutes for me to calm down and so I went into the washroom to freshen up and then I went back and sat down again. But then everything changed…..

As the two of us started chatting again about various things, it was then that a voice spoke up.

"Well it's good to see everything is alright and that we now know both sides of the story" A voice said causing the two of us to turn around and see two people in the doorway,

"Grand-Marshal Yamamoto, Ma'am!" Kaa-san said getting up and saluting

"At ease" she said to which Kaa-san relaxed. I then turned my head to the other person and she was a beautiful woman with long light brown hair and gentle brown eyes and she was wearing a regal kimono.

She then turned her head towards me and gave me the most wonderful smile. It was then that I knew who she was.

"Junon-sama!" I yelled causing Kaa-san to look at the person and she immediately bowed in respect, I mean I did as well even if it did hurt me some. I mean come on this woman here is the empress of Fuso for crying out loud who wouldn't bow in respect to her.

"Ara, ara raise your heads and you young one please get back into your bed we wouldn't want to hinder your recovery now would we" she said as she walked into the room and to which I immediately compiled, it was a tense couple a minutes before I decided to speak up.

"Forgive my rudeness Grand-marshal, Junon-sama. But Isn't there more important matters to deal with at the present time?" After that a slow light hearted chuckle could be heard from both of them.

"Go ahead, Yamamoto" Junon-sama said

"As you wish empress" she said bowing in respect.

"Kisa please bring the box here"

"Yes Ma'am" a woman with blonde mid length hair said coming in with a big brown box as both of us looked at each other with signs of confusion on our faces.

"Captain Mikan Sayama, Attention!" she said to which Kaa-san immediately complied

"For your quick decisive actions against the neuroi threat and leading your fleet effectively into the heat of battle alleviating the stress on the remaining ships defending the naval yard, the naval command has decided. Congratulations Captain Mikan Sayama you are hereby promoted to the rank of rear-admiral effective immediately"

Kaa-san's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as Yamamoto retrieved from the box the certificate, rank insignia and epaulets and handed them to her, she was about to say the traditional celebration but a hand stopped her.

"Please hold off the celebrations as i'm not finished just yet" she said turning to look at me

"Sub-Lieutenant Izumi Sayama, Attention" I tried to get up out of the bed for the third time and I finally managed it with assistance from Kaa-san as she supported me.

"For your valiant efforts in defeating the newest threat from the neuroi and helping to defend your homeland protecting the lives of many in this area, we hereby grant you the title 'Hero of Kure'" My eyes became far larger than Kaa-san's at this point "also with approval from command I hereby promote Sub-Lieutenant Izumi Sayama to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander effective immediately" yet again Yamamoto once again retrieved from the box the certificate, rank insignia and epaulets and handed them to me.

I was in shock at the fact that that I had skipped the Lieutenant rank and immediately went straight to Lieutenant-Commander instead, it took a few moments to get over the shock but I stood fast and accepted it without complaint.

The two of us then looked towards Yamamoto and with a quick nod we both shouted "BANZAI!" in traditional Fuso fashion. A quick cough suddenly caused the two of us to snap back to attention as it seems that the Grand-Marshal wasn't finished just yet.

"Okay now that has been taken care it is time for me to reveal your new orders, rear-admiral Sayama"

"Ma'am"

"The RCEF has taken its course as a trial unit and as a result of the previous battle plus all records that have been given to us, it has been decided to update the fleet to full combat status when all ships have been repaired and a new flagship assigned, to which you will take command of, the fleet is to immediately head into the operations area that includes the whole of the seas surrounding Fuso, Lieutenant-commander Sayama"

"Ma'am"

"You have now been given complete and sole control over the IFN Amagi and at such a time when you have made a complete recovery you are head straight to Yokosuka Naval yard and await further orders, I have already spoken with the rear-admiral about this and she has agreed to it"

This had put my mind at ease as I was worried about being suddenly being told I was not in the same fleet anymore. "Do the both of you understand your new orders?"

"Yes Ma'am" we both saluted

"Now, now I hope you haven't forgotten my presence here" Junon-sama said to which we immediately bowed and apologised to her

"Calm down you two" she said so we did

"Now Izumi my dear could you please stand in front of me" she said which made me and Kaa-san nervous. But I dug down deep and with a big gulp I went did what Junon-sama had asked of me

"For all the time of my reign I have seen what damage and destruction that had came due to a Neuroi's rage" I flinched at this as a feeling of despair developed in the pit of my stomach

"I despise the neuroi as much as the next person." I felt like curling up into a ball and dying at this point

"However, what I see before me is a young girl with a gift. A gift that helped protect us all from oblivion " She said smiling "So please follow me" she continue as she got up off the seat and left the room. Kaa-san got me a wheelchair and we followed her to a radio-room.

Junon-sama then asked the radioman to leave the room and so he did. And what happened next would change my life forever.

"Dear people of Fuso, it is I Empress Junon. I'm here to make an announcement" she said taking a sip of her drink before continuing "We all know the events of the previous month and how a lone girl saved us all from the Neuroi's wrath. Well said girl is here we me today, and I will say this" She took another sip of her drink "She is no ordinary human" I knew then where this was going.

"This young girl Izumi Sayama, is half human half neuroi. Now I know what you are thinking but let me say this. What I see is a brave young girl with a gift, it may come from the enemy we despise but she used this power to protect us all here in Kure. She could have gone berserk and killed us all, however she didn't she used her power for the greater good" She took a swig of drink again.

"There Is one more thing I would like to say and that is Izumi Sayama is not a monster, she is is a very proud citizen of Fuso" She exclaimed and from outside the roar of the crowds that had gathered could be heard.

I went wide eyed in shock "J-Junon-sama I-I… " she then walked over to me and put her finger on my lips "You are special my dear and I believe you will bring a change to this war. Now let's move somewhere else shall we" She said grabbing the wheelchair and then she pushed me out of the room with Kaa-san and the grand-marshal following close behind.

Time: 20:00

' _I'm glad that's over'_ I said to myself as I lay in my bed. You see after Junon-sama's radio transmission an emergency press conference was held on the base with me being in the center. Question after question was asked and I was overwhelmed a few times but my Kaa-san was there to help me through it.

Once the press conference was over it was time for dinner and I got another surprise in the form of eating dinner with Junon-sama and Grand-Marshal Yamamoto. I had to go to the washroom and pinch myself for a good couple of minutes to make sure I'm not dreaming and I wasn't everything that had happened was real.

After dinner the two of them left with my mother not so far behind them but she made sure to give me a kiss and hug before she left. I was then wheeled back to my room by a nurse before being left to my own devices and here I am know resting in my bed.

"I will make Junon-sama proud and I really hope that this blows over soon" I said out loud before getting comfortable and slowly but surely I slipped into a peaceful sleep wondering what the future may bring.


	5. Hometown and departure

Time: 13:00

Date: February 9th

Year: 1944

Location: Kure Naval yard

It has been quite a few months since Izumi received her promotion and meeting with the empress and started her recovery, by the start of the new year she was fully recovered and was ready to set sail but due to the magic engine seizing as a result of the cold Fuso winter it took longer than expected to thaw it out and get it running properly again.

During this time period Izumi had to say goodbye to her mother, auntie and cousin as their fleet had been requested to start patrol missions around Fuso, leading Izumi to start her mission alone for the first time. It had been a few weeks since then which has led to now as Izumi is sitting in the captain's quarters waiting for the supplies to finish being loaded and the command from the yard master to allow her to leave and set sail.

It was another hour or so before the call came in giving her permission to leave the dock and start her journey heading to the port at Yokosuka.

" _I'm glad to be heading back home for awhile, a shame that i'm alone now but FIGMO and on the plus side i'll be able to visit Michiko again before my new orders come in from HQ"_ she happily thought to herself as she went once again to the mess to something to eat as it was lunch time.

Time: 17:00

Date: February 20th

Location: Half way to Yokosuka, Kumano sea

It had been an uneventful voyage for Izumi heading towards Yokosuka, the only thing that had happened that was interesting was the passing by of another fleet heading from the direction of Yokosuka where she could make out the aircraft carrier Akagi, sister ship to Amagi, amongst the fleet.

A quick communication between her and the captain of the Akagi was all that was said and with that they went on their separate ways and now all Izumi could do was practice her new piano book given to her by her mother before she left.

" _*sigh* I hope I reach home soon this is so boring"_ she said to herself as a result of her boredom she decided to increase the speed of her ship in order to get to yokosuka faster.

Time: 07:00

Date: February 28th

Location: entrance to Yokosuka naval base

" _Finally just a bit longer and I can go portside for a while"_ I said thoughtfully, due to the fact that I decided to increase the Amagi's pace I had arrived a few days earlier than expected and was now waiting to be allowed to dock safely in the naval base. It didn't take long for permission from the yard master to be granted and pretty soon the Amagi was tethered safely and securely to the dock.

I immediately headed to the communications room as stated in my orders and reported my arrival to HQ and I was told to take a few days rest before my new orders would come in.

I then skipped happily back to the Amagi and got changed into some civilian clothes but stayed behind until the last of the supplies were carried off the ship and I then locked her down, it was known to all personnel on base that the Amagi is not to be touched, doing so is punishable by demotion or being kicked out entirely.

It took me a few hours to once again become familiar with my hometown as it had been nearly two years since I was here last. I had decided to get some sweets for myself for desert and was heading around a corner when I bumped into someone and landed on my backside.

"Oh i'm so sorry I wasn't… Izumi is that you?" the voice said

I looked up and saw a very familiar face "Michiko… not the way I wanted to meet with you again, but whatever it's really good to see you again Micchy"

"Please don't call me Micchy it's bad enough with my other nickname" She said as her face turned a bright shade of red. Yes this person was none other than Yamakawa Michiko a blue-haired, dark eyed coloured girl and a long time friend of mine.

I got back on my feet and proceeded to hug Micchy for a few minutes before letting go.

"What are you doing here anyways Izumi?" Micchy asked

"What can't I visit an old friend and my hometown anymore" I pouted getting a giggle from Micchy in return.

"I guess I can tell you, as long as I get to stay at yours tonight deal" I said as I held my hand out.

Micchy thought for a few moments "deal" she shook my hand and the both of us started to head towards her house.

I kept my end of the deal and started to explain what had happened in the past couple of months with Micchy chiming in with questions on confirming what she had read in the paper. Along the way we met up with Yamakawa, Micchy's mother, and I got proper permission from Sinon-san to stay over at her house for a few days, after that was confirmed my speech continued up to the front door of Micchy's house…..

"... And now I'm waiting around for a few day for my new orders to come in and to be honest I have no Idea what they could be" I finished speaking as we entered the Living room after dropping off our coats and shoes by the front door.

"Wow, I mean what I've read in the papers and heard on the radio was shocking enough but to hear it straight from the horse's mouth….. my mind is simply blown" Micchy said holding her forehead whilst I had starting giggling in response.

It was at this point I noticed Micchy twitching slightly in her seat and it got me curious as to why she was doing that. But I eventually figured out what she wanted to ask.

"Alright Micchy, help me clear a space" I said

"Really?" she asked with stars in her eyes

"Yes, now hurry up before I change my mind" I said to which she immediately hopped out of her seat and started helping me move the furniture around in order to make space.

"What's going on in here then?" a voice asked

"Kaa-san she going to show us her neuroi form!" Micchy said excitedly and then I uttered the words once more and pretty soon I was floating there to a surprised and shocked Micchy and Sinon-san.

"Seeing this form in the newspapers was amazing enough. But seeing it up close and in person is shocking" Sinon-san said walking over to me with Micchy in tow. before they both gave me a once over and then I really knew what it felt like to be a deer caught in the headlights.

By the time they had finished looking at me from all angles, we had all settled down and rested before dinner had been served and then it was bedtime. I had decided to share a room with Micchy at her insistence saying something about the good old days so I relented and quickly the two of us had quickly fallen asleep.

Time: 06:00

Date: March 6th

Location: Yamakawa Household

It had been a wonderful few days full of fun for me and the Yamakawa family. I had spent most of the time with Micchy and Sinon-san, whenever she had the time, in order to practice in my neuroi form. I had gotten the levitating thing down pat by this point, so I wanted to try flying next, It took a lot of crashes before I managed to get the handle on things, Micchy had said something about where her healer friend was when she needed her.

Eventually though after remembering how my cousin flew in her striker unit, I slowly improved up to the point where I was zooming around like a pro. I wanted to practice firing beams but I was swiftly talked out of it saying I could be mistaken for a hostile neuroi and have action taken against me. Needless to say but that plan was, no pun intended, shot down.

But alas all good things must come to an end and with a phone call to the household I knew that my new orders had come.

After a nice Fuso breakfast lining my tummy I started to get dressed and as I was about to leave…

"Where are you going Izumi?" I turned around to see Micchy with the worst case of bed hair I had seen in a good long while, as I stifled a laugh I responded "I have to head to the naval yard to receive my new orders from HQ and then I will come back later on today with the shopping your mom asked to pick up on the way back, so I'll see you later Micchy"

"Okay, see you lateerrrrrrrr" she responded whilst yawning, as she saw me leave she went about her normal day with her family.

Later that day,

Time 15:00

It had been a few hours since Izumi had left to complete her errands and as fast as she had left she had returned back home to tell us what we presume the good news.

"Welcome back Izumi" Kaa-san said from the kitchen "I'm back Sinon-san, Micchy and I got the stuff you asked for" she replied. "Wonderful i'll get started on dinner then shall I" Kaa-san said as she got rapid nodding from the two of us and she giggled in response.

"So what are your new orders Izumi?" I asked eager to learn what she had to say

"Calm down, jeez I'll tell you at dinner that way I won't have to repeat myself multiple times, okay" she responded to which I nodded in agreement.

It didn't take long after that for dinner to arrive and as promised Izumi decided to tell an abridged version of what her orders stated.

"It all boils down to this Micchy, as soon as I can I am to set sail towards britannia and use the Amagi and its weapons in the fight against the neuroi, I have been informed by HQ that a small naval yard has been built in the area of dover nearby the base of the 501st JFW and I will be assigned to them as part of a naval battalion. However I can't leave yet due to supply issues causing me to have a two and a half week delay before I set off and that's pretty much my orders in a nutshell so any questions?"

Immediately after she had finished speaking I got up out of my chair walked around and said "PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU IZUMI!" I exclaimed stunning both her and Kaa-san.

"Are you out of your mind Micchy, it's too dangerous! " she said

"But I want to help!" I replied

It took another two hours of arguments between the two of us with the occasional input from Kaa-san, but eventually I pulled out my trump card.

"Pwease take me with you" I said with the biggest puppy dog eyes I could muster.

"Alright, Alright you win, god damn it you know I hate it when you do that just stop already" she said finally relenting.

"Yippee"

"Don't get your hopes up Micchy, I have to talk to my superiors first about getting you enlisted" I cocked my head in confusion "Well it's not like I can let a civilian on a warship with a weapon that deadly, to neuroi at least. That would cause so many problems I can't even imagine them all. So the only way for you to come with me is to enlist in the IFN i'm afraid do you understand Micchy" I nodded rapidly in response

"Okay I'll go back tomorrow and see what I can do, but no promises okay and there is one more thing I want you to do. Have a long talk with your mother about what you want to do okay. Good now have that talk because arguing with you has made me sleepy so I'm off to take a bath and then bed so see you later" Izumi said as she got up from the couch rubbing the back of her head and promptly left the living room.

Leaving the two of us alone to discuss about what I wanted to do and to make sure I understood what I was doing.

The next day

I decided to take off early the next morning to the naval yard to ask about what was talked about the previous night it didn't take long to voice my case to the General-Marshal herself, which surprised me as I didn't expect her to be present at the base and within just a few hours I had gotten my answer and with a spring in my step I immediately went back to the Yamakawa household with the good news.

Once the three of us had gathered once again in the living room eating our Lunch. I started explaining to the two of them what Micchy would have to do which consisted of a two week crash course in both IFN rules and regulations, with an exam at the end to decide Micchy's position in the IFN. As well as in the second week a course on the radio control systems of the Amagi in case of myself being unable to operate the system properly and safely.

The last hurdle that Micchy would have to jump over would be learning how to drive both a truck and bike to which I would be her teacher, after that only then will Micchy know if she can come with me to Britannia.

"Knowing all of this Micchy, do you still want to do this?" I asked

"Yes I do" Micchy replied her face brimming with confidence

"Very well, report to the teaching facility on base at 08:00 tomorrow do you understand"

"Yes ma'am!" she shouted in reply.

Time: 11:00

Date: February 24th

Location: Yokosuka Naval yard Administration building

It had been a rough few weeks for both me and Izumi. Me dealing with the crash course, exam and driving lessons and as for Izumi it was nerve-wracking for her worrying constantly about me in case anything went wrong. This led me to comfort her a lot, reassuring her that I was going to be okay.

Izumi was now waiting outside the main office as I had just gone inside after being called in by Kisa, who was Yamamoto's cerberus, with Izumi having to wait outside in the waiting room.

45 minutes later, the door to the office opened alerting her as I came out holding a box of some sort.

"How did it go Micchy" she asked worriedly

"..."

"Micchy?"

"I DID IT I PASSED" I exclaimed giving her the biggest hug that I could crying in happiness.

"That's great Micchy, what rank are you?"

"Well due to how well I performed in the test and the last minute surprise oral exam, I have been given the rank of Chief Petty Officer" I said beaming

"Chief Petty Officer Michiko Yamakawa, your mother will be so proud…. tonight we celebrate" Izumi stated to which I agreed wholeheartedly.

"Before you leave ladies there are some formalities to take care of first" Kisa said gaining the attention of the two of us causing us to go red in the face with embarrassment.

It didn't take me long to fill in and sign the last few documents that were required to finish my enlistment. I was then presented with my ID in a IFN issue wallet and with that the two of us left the base and rushed home as quick as we could picking up some ingredients on the way, with Kaa-san now aware of my achievements a party was indeed held that night but not before the two of them helped me pack for our departure in the morning.

The next day

Time: 09:00

Both me and Micchy were currently at where the Amagi was docked overlooking the final preparations before setting sail, I was dockside talking to the yard manager and Micchy was going over the final checklists whilst speaking with the dockhands making sure everything was ready.

An hour or so later they were almost ready but then….

"Michiko" a voice said gaining the attention of the two of us, causing both of us to turn around around to see Sinon-san and another brown haired women that I didn't recognise.

"Kaa-san, Oba-san" Micchy exclaimed rushing over given the two a massive hug with me stifling a giggle at her antics.

Sinon-san then broke the hug and walked over to me along with the other women.

"To what do I owe the pleasure Sinon-san" I said

"Well first off here you go you two" Sinon said as she pulled two giant boxed lunches from her backpack and handed them to Micchy with her once again hugging her mother.

"And secondly" she said pushing the other woman "I was hoping you could listen to my sister, Sayaka's request"

The newly named Sayaka then started to speak "Is it true that the two of you are heading to Britannia?"

"Yes ma'am the two of us will be stationed at a naval base nearby the 501st in dover why do you ask?" she then brought out her own package and held in front of me.

"I was hoping you could deliver this care package to my daughter who is stationed there"

"A package for Yoshika then ma'am"

"You know her?" Sayaka asked confused

"Not personally no but Micchy talks about her alot" I replied taking the package from Sayaka's hand "I will gladly take on the task of delivering this package safely to your daughter ma'am" Lilly said saluting

"Thank you" was what came out of Sayaka's mouth as she teared up a bit.

Then a few minutes later the Amagi with Its 2 member crew was released from the dock and had started to set sail, with both Sinon and Sayaka waving the two of us goodbye, and with one final blast from the ship's horn the Amagi had left the safety of Yokosuka naval yard and was headed out onto the open sea… destination Britannia.

Meanwhile halfway around the world

A certain red-headed commander was sitting at her desk looking over some newly received documents from allied command and was going over them thoroughly, "things are going to get interesting around here.." she said closing the folder and switching of her desk lamp. "I'll let the rest know tomorrow" she said whilst closing the door to her office.


	6. A day in the life of the 501st

Time: 13:30

Date: 26th February

Location: 501st JFW base, Dover

It had been an uneventful day in the realm of the 501st whether it being from the constant training throughout the day held by Major sakamoto, handling massive amounts of paperwork that somehow seems to pop up out of nowhere which had to be dealt with one way or another by the fighter wing's commander, Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, or the occasional attack by the neuroi which ran like clockwork most of the time.

But things were going to change, due to the information from allied command she received the previous night Minna had decided to relay to the rest of the witches what she had learned and so had asked everyone, sleeping or not, to gather together and met her in the aula for briefing.

It didn't take very long for everyone to gather and be seated and as always two of them, Francesca and Sanya, were struggling to stay awake with both of them nodding off on occasion.

I was happy in the knowledge that everyone was present and accounted for and so I started to speak

"Okay everyone, I bet you are all wondering why I called you here today" I looked and got various looks from everyone "well from what I received last night we are getting a new witch" murmurs started to spread amongst the witches wondering who this person could be.

"Well this witch is special as she is the world's first naval witch and she hails from Fuso" I stated causing Mio and Yoshika to become more alert.

"What's this witch's name Minna" Mio asked to which I was only happy to oblige.

"Her name is Lieutenant-commander Izumi Sayama, formerly part of the Fuso RCEF, and is the sole operator of the RC ship the IFN Battlecruiser Amagi which from reading the documents is one of a very select amount of ships that is magic engine powered"

This got Shirley into high gear "A magic powered ship? How does it work?"

"You would have to ask her yourself as any other information regarding the Amagi is classified at this moment in time so I'm in the dark as much as the rest of you are" the rest of the girls nodded in understanding

"anyways as I was saying she will be arriving at the nearby naval base with her 2IC and will be stationed there and will perform patrol duties as and when needed. At this present time I do not have details on the second person that will be arriving, hopefully the information will be forwarded to me soon. Also at the time of her arrival we will be receiving a large amount of supplies from Fuso. Alright are there any more questions?" I finished saying whilst looking around the room.

"Whats her nationality?" Eila asked putting her hand up

"Well she's half Fusoian and get this half Orussian" I replied, this caused the semi-asleep Sanya to stir and became fully awake at the mention of another Orussian joining the base with Eila looking like she was starting to wonder what the person looked like.

"Anything else?" I asked

This time it was Getrude to ask the question, "What's with her rank Minna, I'm not familiar with it"

"Good question Getrude, her rank of Lieutenant-commander is equivalent to the rank of Major, so technically there will be two majors on the base at all times, does this satisfy your curiosity Getrude" all I got was a nod in response.

"Okay anything else"

This time it was Yoshika who wanted to ask a question but it wasn't directed at Me it was for Mio instead.

"Sakamoto-san didn't we pass by the Amagi a few hours after setting sail from Yokosuka?"

"Yes we did Miyafuji, the captain spoke briefly with the Lieutenant-commander before we went our separate ways, why do you ask" Mio said

"Well that means….."

"Out with it Miyafuji" Mio barked

"Sorry, It means that we will be working with the hero of Kure won't we" she replied with Mio in realisation letting out a hearty laugh

"Yes, that's right Miyafuji. Ah that reminds me everyone I need to tell you something. Due to this person's nature, an announcement from the empress of Fuso that says that Izumi is the only one who can reveal her true self when she feels comfortable around others, in this case us. So when she arrives do not bug her about it okay." she finished saying

"Her true nature?" everyone including me asked

"Yes, but I won't speak of it. Sorry everyone. That goes for you too Miyafuji, speak of it and your punishment will be severe. Do you understand me"

"Yes ma'am!" Yoshika yelled and saluted.

And with that the conversation came to an end. I let the girls go but it seems Mio wasn't finished speaking yet as she had asked me to have a talk in her office. So off we went to my office and once I sat down she started to speak.

"So what did you want to ask me Mio" I asked

"I just want confirmation on what you said earlier" she replied

"Everything that has been relayed to the group is 100% legitimate, it came by witch courier late last night and it came with all the bells and whistles signalling that the documents came directly from allied HQ, here have a look if you don't believe me." I said pointing out the stack of documents on my desk that she hadn't filed away yet.

It took some time for Mio to go through each and every one of the documents making sure she hadn't missed a single thing.

"So wanna talk about…."

"Nice try Minna, but you ain't getting anything from me"

I could only pout at that response and knowing how stubborn she was I decided to let it go. I was right about one thing though and when she came across the documents detailing the Amagi, her eyes went wide in shock as it was as if nighttime had been made in paper form all she could she was black lines everywhere sprawled across the pages.

"You were right Minna, I guess it's going to be a wait and see game for us to find out what the Amagi truly hides" she said and all I could do was nod at my companion signalling that I understood what Mio was saying.

It was then a knock was heard at the door to my office.

"Come in" I was expecting one or two people at most, not nearly the whole squad at once.

"Well this is certainly a surprise, is something wrong" I asked the girls, it was then that Shirley spoke up.

"Well we were wondering if we could go and check out the naval base where the two new people are going to be stationed" the rest of the girls nodded as to reinforce the question Shirley had asked.

It took a little while for me to process the question I had just been asked but finally after a few moments I had an answer.

"Well since the Naval base is technically part of our group we can go and see it" the girls started to get rowdy "However according to the orders I have received we are only allowed to look at the base and not mess around with anything inside its walls as the area is under the sole jurisdiction of the lieutenant-commander by orders from the Higher-ups in the IFN, so if we want to do anything there we need to ask her for permission, do I make myself clear, especially you Shirley." "Yes Ma'am" "oh and one last thing somebody has to stay behind and monitor the phones any volunteers?"

Erica, being the lazy person that she is, decided to go see the base some other day seeing as it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. So she volunteered and went to man the phones whilst everyone headed to the garage and climbed aboard the truck and one of the cars parked there, loading a few striker units and guns just in case into the third car, and with that they headed out and made their way to the naval base.

It only took them around 10 minutes to reach the entrance to the base with Shirley in the truck leading the group, she quickly got out and checked the gate to see if it was open and it was so she pushed it open and went back to the truck and went inside with the two cars following closely behind.

Once they entered the base they all looked around in shock and wonder except for two of them who were familiar with the Fuso architecture. To Yoshika and Mio the naval base was pretty much a miniature version of the ones you would find at Kure or Yokosuka back home in Fuso, but to the others it was something they had never seen before and as a result it took them awhile to take it all in and calm themselves down.

But then a phone on a nearby pole scared the living daylights out of them, including the stern faced Mio. The phone kept ringing for a little longer before Yoshika decided to pick it up.

"Yoshika-chan what are you…." Lynne said trying to stop me

"Miyafuji here" I said

"Hey Miyafuji" The voice replied

"Hartmann, what are you doing using the phone" I replied confusing myself as well as the others.

"Well there was a new number added to the contacts list, and curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know where the number led so I called it and here I am speaking to you, so I now assume that you're in the Naval base right" she explained

"Yeah, that's right at least we won't problems communicating between the bases now" I said getting an approving nod from Minna

"Well back to work I guess I'll see you all later" Erica said

"Bye Hartmann" I replied hanging up

After that the the group continued their tour around the base, next coming across the docks.

"Hey Minna I thought you said only one ship was coming?" Gertrude said pointing out there was three spaces for ships to dock, which had confused the group considering what they had been told earlier in the day, it was then Lynne spoke up

"Maybe they could be for supply ships or for other navies to use for quick repairs"

"That makes a lot of sense Lynnette, thanks for your insight into the matter" Minna said causing Lynne to blush "N-no problem commander"

The group continued around the base in a clockwise fashion exploring everything that they could, before they came upon the last area they needed to see which got a certain petrol-head certainly excited.

"Sweet two new vehicles to play with" I said starry eyed whilst getting closer to the vehicles.

"Flight Lieutenant Yeager, do you not remember what I said earlier today" Minna said with a look that could unnerve even the devil himself

I Immediately froze to the spot and replied "S-sorry I got a wee bit too excited, but now that I look at them I don't recognise either of these two vehicles"

We all then got closer to the garage and saw a truck and a bike that was unfamiliar to all of us, that is until Mio recognised the two and spoke up.

"Ah now I remember" we all looked towards her expecting an answer "the truck is known as the IFM Model 94 6 wheeled truck, it looks like a soft top version similar to the Bedford QLD we have, as for the bike it is a licence-built copy of harley-davidson motorcycle known as the road king from Liberion" This got me even more excited to play with the bike

"This variant is known as the Rikuo Land king and look it even has a sidecar as well" Mio said finishing her explanation of the truck and bike.

"Thankyou for your Insight Mio and Shirley stop heading towards the bike or its KP duty for a month" Minna once again reprimanding my actions to which all I could do was sheepishly rub the back of my head.

"If you wait a while for the witch to arrive and ask her nicely, maybe just maybe she'll let you have a go, but remember you have to ask because don't forget this part of the base is under that witch's jurisdiction and anything she says goes" Gertrude says speaking up causing me to pout and start walking away in a huff.

With Shirley's urges finally under control and thankfully no neuroi attacks ruining the day, everyone headed back to their convoy, locked the gates and then proceeded to head home as it was nearing dinner time and as before more discussions, with Erica being filled in on what happened at the naval base, about the day's events occurred ending when everyone went their separate ways with Eila asking permission from Minna to accompany Sanya on night patrol, so that nothing bad happened to her due to lack of sleep from being active during the day, to which Minna granted permission.

And that is how the uneventful day, that became eventful later had ended for the resident witches of the 501st JFW.

Meanwhile aboard the Amagi

The journey had started strong for the duo and they had started to make decent headway to their destination, the seas were calm and no neuroi were in sight but deep down both of them knew that the peace on the quiet ocean was not going to last. Izumi had one thing to say on the matter before heading to bed "I have a bad feeling about this…"


	7. Explosive arrival

Time: 08:00

Date: April 2nd

Location: Entering the Britannian channel

The time for the two seafarers was almost over they were now in the final straight after a month long voyage full of boredom, sing-a-longs and the occasional Neuroi fight, from the sea and sky they can never win but they sure can try. It was a bright sunny day on the deck of the Amagi where both Izumi and Micchy were resting on deck in swimsuits due to it being far too hot indoors, so they decided to get the hell outta there before they both became roasted from the inside out .

"What a great day to finish this voyage on huh Micchy" Izumi asked

"Yeah, plus I get to see Yoshika soon" she replied with a goofy grin on her face

"I do hope you Introduce me to her, otherwise I won't know who to give the package to"

"Don't worry as soon as we get on land that's the first thing I'll do"

After changing course a little bit to avoid the coast of Gallia. as they really didn't want to engage in a neuroi fight today, they finally started to see the white cliffs of dover, which caused the two to cheer. However as I stated before fate can be a fickle beast to tame and as Micchy started to scan the horizon with her binoculars the all too familiar sight of red and black could be seen but this time it was already fighting something and as she panned to the skies she could see a group of witches engaging the Neuroi and that's when she saw…..

"Yoshika…. no" Micchy said as she started to tremble

"Micchy… Micchy snap out of it" Izumi said as it took a few moments for Micchy to snap out of it

"We are going to help them, I don't think the 501st have dealt with naval neuroi before, so Chief Petty Officer BATTLESTATIONS"

"Yes Ma'am" Micchy replied running back in doors

Izumi didn't realise how accurate she was with her statement about the 501st not encountering naval neuroi and was moving the Amagi as fast as she could to help out.

With a few flicks of some switches and a few turns of some miniature wheels the Amagi once again heads into battle against the neuroi menace, its guns starting to move and angle themselves and with just one push of a button from Izumi the roar of 10 410mm guns went off sending their payload towards the unsuspecting neuroi.

Meanwhile with the 501st

It had only been 10 minutes since the order to engage the neuroi had come in from command, now the witches expected a standard battle with the run of the mill neuroi aerial types, but today they were in for a big surprise, when Mio manage to lock on the neuroi she had to look down instead of straight head, that was when the witch stumbled upon something that not even she had seen before.

It was a neuroi no doubt with it's black and red hexagonal patterns but instead of soaring through the sky it was sailing on the ocean. It stunned the rest of the witches when she told them, but a neuroi is a neuroi regardless of what form it takes and they had to destroy it so with that the order to engage was given and thus started the battle.

A few minutes after the engagement had started each witch had decided to attack from any and all angles that they could fathom to try and destroy the core, but even with Sanya's rockets taking big chunks out of the neuroi's armour it still wasn't enough to reach the core.

"For god's sake how tough is this thing" Shirley roared

"Just keep going" I barked

"I'm almost out of ammo here and this damn thing just won't die" Gertrude said dodging a few beams.

Things were starting to go south for us if we couldn't kill the neuroi soon then all hell will break loose with the neuroi being able to complete its original goal. It was then that our radios sparked into life with a voice yelling…

"FIRE!" I turned just in time to see a ship firing a full load of round in our direction.

"Quick everyone get out of the way ship fire incoming" I yelled to which everyone else responded by getting out of the way just in time as a barrage of rounds bombarded the neuroi throwing up smoke from where the explosions had hit clouding the neuroi from view.

We were all in shock at how much damage the unknown ship's cannons had done to the neuroi, the radio once again sparked into life.

"Is everyone okay, I didn't hit anyone did I" the voice asked worriedly, I then looked around checking to make sure everyone was okay before I replied.

"Yes everyone is present and unharmed, I thank you for the assistance my name is Major Mio Sakamoto of the 501st JFW what's yours"

"My name is….. Shit! Everyone think fast the enemy isn't dead yet" the voice said putting everyone on high alert only to see a massive read beam headed towards the unknown ship, we had thought the worst was about to happen but the beam never hit it's target it hit instead hit a large hexagonal shield instead leaving the ship unharmed before the beam fizzled out.

"That was a close one, alright it's time to finish this" before the radio connection was cut.

Back on the Amagi

I was at a crossroads here seeing as the first volley didn't take out the neuroi as I intended it to do I now had two choices, use the cannons and throw some torpedos into the mix or fire the MDCS. But the neuroi then forced my hand by picking up on how fast the beams were being fired.

"Cannon it is then" I said to myself as I sighed as I started the MDCS up, now due to the technicians back home further improving the system and the previous battles I had gone through. I had now drastically reduced the time it takes to deploy the system however the charge time hadn't changed at all, which sucked. During the charging process I noticed the witches were looking in shock and awe but I quickly put that behind me…

"Things are about to get rough Micchy"

"Just kill that thing already!"

"FIRE!" I yelled letting the beast that was the MDCS roar once more letting a large blue beam completely consume the neuroi leaving scraps behind as it dissipated, and with one huge explosion from what remained of the neuroi the threat was no more.

Back with the witches

All of us were stunned, we wouldn't have believed it if we didn't see it, a beam from a ship and if that wasn't enough it wasn't a neuroi. the radio crackled to life bringing us out of our stupor.

"Mio are you okay, I just saw a giant beam go pass the base, was it another neuroi, Mio please answer me" Minna said with a worried tone

"It wasn't a neuroi Minna believe me" I said still a little bit despondent

"It wasn't a neuroi?" Minna asked confused to all hell

"At least we know what secret the Amagi was hiding now"

"That beam came from the Amagi!?" Minna said now even more confused

"I guess our new witch arrived right on time, but her firepower my god Minna….. anyways meet us at the naval base Minna our main objective of escorting the ship is now in effect"

"Okay I'll see you there" Minna said cutting the radio link

At the Naval Yard

Mio then relayed to the other witches what they had to do and with a brief talk with Izumi, the 501st with the Amagi in tow made all haste to the naval yard.

It didn't take long for the witches to land at the naval yard and meet up with Minna and Sanya who had to take one the the cars. Soon after the Amagi had started to dock and the witches saw a lavender haired girl on the deck, luckily she had changed into some appropriate clothes, throwing ropes to the dockside to which Minna asked Gertrude to secure them to the holding pegs getting a thank you from the girl who then jumped of the deck of the ship and landed in front of the witches.

"I assume you're Izumi correct" Mio asked

"Lieutenant-commander Izumi Sayama, reporting for duty Ma'am" she said snapping to attention and saluting

"At ease" to which Izumi relaxed "and let me be the first to welcome you to the 501st JFW, the strike witches" Minna said offering a handshake to which Izumi readily accepted

After that all of the witches introduced themselves to her and by some miracle Shirley had actually behaved herself and hadn't bombarded Izumi with questions lest she feel the wrath from Minna, but what they didn't know was Izumi's radio was active relaying all the information she heard to Micchy who was chomping at the bit to leave the ship and see Yoshika but had to wait for Izumi to give her permission.

"Okay now the formalities are taken care off, I do believe you have some supplies for us correct" Minna asked

"That is correct but first, I need to ask something" I then turned towards to the Mio and Yoshika

"Have you two said anything about m-me?" I asked nervously

"Don't worry, we haven't said a thing. We'll leave it to you when you're ready" Mio replied

"Thankyou" I said sighing in relief that nothing has been said to the other yet.

A few minutes passed whilst I cooled off seeing as I needed a drink. But then I went and got back on track.

"Yoshika"

"Yes"

"There are two things that I have with me today for you"

"For me?" Yoshika cocked her head in confusion.

"Yes, first off I have a care package for you from your mother which I will fetch in a minute, and second a certain someone one wants to see you" and as soon as I said those words a dark blue and white blur came out of nowhere and knocked Yoshika to the ground.

"Yoshika, it's so good to see you again I was so worried about the fight earlier" the girl said

"Micchan! what are you doing here?"

"I can answer that" Yoshika and the rest of the witches turned towards Izumi for her answer.

"May I introduce to you all Chief Petty Officer Michiko Yamakawa, and my second in command"

Yoshika went wide eyed and her jaw dropped and started to speak but I stopped her.

"Now Yoshika I know what you're gonna say, and let me say this she had a very stern talking to by both me and her mother but in the end this is what she decided to do and it also had something to do with _that_ " I finished causing Yoshika to close her mouth immediately Knowing what _THAT_ was leaving the rest of the witches confused as to what I meant.

It took a little bit to pry Micchy off of Yoshika and then the unloading of the supplies from the Amagi began whilst Micchy got the truck which surprised the witches especially Yoshika seeing as her best friend can drive before she could. To which she made a mental note to ask who taught her how to drive later.

After the supplies were loaded Yoshika hopped in truck with Micchy to talk some more with her, Izumi mounted the bike, Minna went back in the car with Sanya, with the rest of the witches taking off back to base with Minna leading the convoy.

That night Izumi reported to HQ to inform them that they had arrived safely, then everyone went to dinner with both Izumi and Micchy offering to do it this time instead since it's the least they can do and once again discussion about the day's events happened to which Izumi got some stares from Sanya and Eila for some reason.

It was then time for bed with Micchy dragging Izumi to Yoshika's room to sleep with the latter's permission of course, they had some more discussions for a little while before the three of them drifted off peacefully to sleep.


	8. Acceptance and mysterious places

It had been a few days since the new arrivals had joined the 501st, all the witches seemed very welcoming of them, although Izumi kept getting stares from Sanya and Eila and it was starting to unnerve her a little bit.

Each day was filled with fun, mischief and laziness, mainly on Erica's part though and even though Minna had suggested that Izumi and Micchy take a few days to settle in before they start on their patrol missions Izumi wouldn't have none of it stating that the neuroi wouldn't just sit still and twiddle their thumbs, if they had any.

After some arguments on both sides Izumi finally relented and settled on doing shorter patrol runs but that still didn't prevent her from upping her neuroi kill count whenever she took the Amagi out on patrol.

Time: 06:00

Date: 12th April

Location: Skies above Dover

(Please note that this next part will mostly be in russian with english translations, just letting you know so you don't get confused)

It had been a peaceful nights flying for me, no neuroi at all, and I was now on the the home straight back to base and straight back to bed as well, however as I saw the base starting to come into view. my radio sparked into life.

"Доброе утро Санья (Good Morning Sanya)", A voice said, to which I stopped and started to look around to see where the voice had come from.

"что-то случилось товарищ? (Is something the matter comrade?)" the voice said again, this time I had managed to lock on to where the voice was coming and I saw Izumi standing on the deck of her ship holding a cup of tea,

"Нет, на самом деле не он просто меня удивило, что вы говорите на языке нашей Родины, я думаю, вы на самом деле наполовину русский Лилли. (No, not really it just surprised me that you are speaking in the language of our homeland, I guess you really are half-Orussian Izumi) I replied flying down towards her getting a giggle in response.

"а вы действительно не можете сказать, глядя на меня можешь? (well you really can't tell by looking at me can you?)" Izumi said pointing to her hair.

"Нет, не совсем (No, not really) I said, I then caught a wiff of Izumi's tea and became suddenly Nostalgic "говорят, что Лилли не случится быть караван черный чай не правда ли? (say Izumi that wouldn't happen to be caravan black tea would it?) I asked pointing at her cup

"Поэтому да, не могли бы вы присоединиться ко мне для некоторых? (why yes, would you care to join me for some?) she asked.

This was a tough decision for me because I could decline and head back to base and sleep or stay and have something nice to drink, but in the end my longing for something from my homeland won out in the end.

"да, пожалуйста, если это не какая-нибудь неприятность, конечно, (yes please if it isn't any trouble of course)" I replied

"Нет, это не беда на всех, есть запуск блока за переднем башне, перейдите землю, и я буду вести вас внутри (No, it is no trouble at all, there is a launch unit in front of the forwardmost turret, go land and i'll lead you inside) Izumi stated to which I went and landed. Within a few moments I had caught up her and she led me inside and we both headed for the Captain's quarters.

It didn't take long me to take in the sights of the room, what with there being artifacts from both Orussia and Fuso all around the place on shelves and in bookcases. It wasn't until Izumi sat down that I noticed something else that was essential to the tea making process.

" _A samovar how wonderful!"_ I said cheerfully to myself, as Izumi got started on the tea making and not long after that the freshly brewed tea was in our hands and as we both took a sip,we shivered in delight of how delicious our drink was.

A few minutes of silence had passed and another two cups of tea have been poured before Izumi decided to ask me something..

"Санья может я кое-что спросить? (Sanya may I ask you something)"

"Hmmmm…?" I replied whilst taking a sip of my tea

"Почему я получаю странные взгляд от вас и Эйла в последнее время, это начинает "становиться немного нервирует (How come I've been getting weird stares from you and Eila recently, It's starting to become a bit unnerving)" After she asked that I sighed and put my tea down and looked a bit depressed as I began to speak

" Мне очень жаль, что это просто, что Эйла это немножко над защитным меня на несколько раз и ... (I'm really sorry, it's just that Eila is a wee bit over protective of me at some times and...) I started to say but was interrupted

"Это хорошо теперь я понимаю, ... она думает, что я собираюсь вызвать проблемы для вас не она, но есть что-то более у меня есть странное чувство, что вы любите ее и пытались ее остановить, глядя на мне не вам Санья (It's alright I understand now... she thinks that I'm going to cause trouble for you doesn't she, but there's something more I have a funny feeling that you love her and have been trying to get her to stop staring at me haven't you Sanya) This caused me to do a spit take and was shocked that Izumi had figured it all out. I calmed down before continuing to speak

"Да, это верно Лилли я люблю ее много, я намеки, что я хочу, чтобы принять его на более, чем просто друзья, но она слишком плотная, чтобы заметить мои достижения (Yeah, That's right Izumi I do love her a lot, I've been dropping hints that I want to take it to more than just friends but she's too dense to notice my advances)" I replied sighing once more.

"Почему бы вам не заставить ее руку немного (Why don't you force her hand a bit) Izumi replied causing me to look at her wondering what she meant

"Да, начать получать немного более агрессивным в намек падения, может быть, спать в одной постели больше и больше каждый день, и использовать ее обнять подушку и, если он попадает в точку, где вы получаете раздраженный ее плотности тянуть ее в сторону и падение бомба на нее, поцеловать ее прямо в губы тут же и государства с гордостью, что вы хотите, чтобы стать больше, чем друзьями,

(Yeah, start getting a bit more aggressive in your hint dropping, maybe sleeping in the same bed more and more each day and use her a hug pillow and if it gets to the point where you are getting annoyed at her denseness pull her aside and drop the bombshell on her, kiss her right on the lips there and then and state proudly that you want to become more than friends) after saying her piece I was shocked at what I had heard, but I knew Izumi was right and the idea was sound so I got off my chair and went and hugged Izumi.

(note: Back to english)

"Thank you Izumi for your help"

"You are most welcome Sanya" I then once again sat back down before Izumi asked another question

"Sanya, is there any more potential couples on the base I should know about?" I pondered about my answer

"Well, I believe that Yoshika and Lynette have been getting a lot closer recently"

"No, really those two I never pegged either of them to swing that way"

"Yep, there's a secret betting pool on who confesses first and it's in Lynnette's favour at the moment"

"Wow, I may want to get in on the action at some point, but I digress that's for another time Sanya is there anything going on today?"

"Ah The commander is having emergency water training today after lunch on the beach and after that we can do what we want" I replied having a nice big smile on my face

"Ah that's a shame I have patrol duty at 13:00 so I won't be able to attend, but I could let Micchy go and have some fun she's been wanting to go to the beach for some time now and this seems a perfect chance for her to do so"

"Micchy?" I asked cocking my head in confusion

"Ah, that's my nickname for Michiko, just like how Yoshika calls her Micchan" She says with me nodding in response.

"Okay, that makes sense. Anyways Izumi I now have a question for you" I said looking at her

"Shoot"

"What is it that you are hiding from us?" I asked causing her to do a spit take this time around.

"I-I figured this question would come eventually" she said whilst trying to calm herself down.

"It's okay… you don't have to say anything…"

"No I've been keeping this in far too long" she sighed before continuing

"Right, I've made up my mind. Tonight after the training I will show everyone my secret" she exclaimed

"I'm looking forward to it" I said smiling

"Anyway Sanya thanks for letting me know about today. Now let's get you to bed shall we" she said realising that I was starting to get sleepy and so I decided to head back to base and so I got up and started to head out of the room but Izumi stopped me

"And where do you think you're going" Izumi said causing me to turn around I saw her pointing to a door behind her "Go on and use my room for now and don't worry I'll let Minna know where you are, I'll drive you back to base before lunch so now off with you and sweet dreams Alexsandra" She said

I pondered for a few moments before relenting and nodded in response, yawning as I headed into the bedroom and because of how comfy the bed was I fell into a wonderful sleep almost immediately.

"I guess this is it huh….. no turning back now" I said to no one in particular whilst clenching my fist.

Meanwhile at the base

Time: 08:00

It had been roughly an hour since Sanya had went to bed and at the base everyone was starting to wake up and file into the dining room where Yoshika and Lynette were making breakfast, everyone was chatting quietly amongst themselves but then running could be heard and someone burst through the doors of the room.

Everyone turned around and saw Eila with the worst case of bed hair anyone had ever seen causing nearly everyone to start giggling, but Eila didn't care about that at all right now.

"Has anyone seen Sanya!?" She yelled

"No, isn't she asleep in her room?" Shirley asked

"She isn't I looked, I've searched everywhere and her striker isn't in her launch unit" she said starting to tear up causing everyone to become worried but then a hand rested upon her shoulder and she turned around to see Minna.

"Wipe those tears from your face Eila and don't worry about Sanya she's fine"

"Then where is she?" Eila said more determined than ever to find her

"I just received a call from Izumi and she said that she and Sanya had a nice talk before she allowed Sanya to use her bed aboard the Amagi" Everyone sighed in relief but Eila looked as if she was about to bolt out of the room.

"Now, now Eila don't be foolish Izumi has said she'll drop Sanya off before she heads out on her patrol run, speaking of which Yamakawa-san"

"Yes"

"You having been allowed by Izumi to join us for today on the beach training, she'll handle the patrol alone" Minna finished saying with a smile on her face.

This caused Micchy to squeal with happiness and seeing her charming smile made everyone's mood in the room lighten incredibly, even Eila couldn't stay upset for long and so she sat down and started to eat her breakfast.

Later that day

Just as I had promised I do, I dropped off Sanya with all of her gear and headed back to my ship to start my patrol run and oh boy I was in for a surprise.

"Why do I have to deal with this now, my run was almost over" I said whining

I was on my way back to the base happy that I wouldn't have to fight any neuroi today, but just as I was on the final straight the all too familiar screeching of the neuroi could be heard to the immediate right of my position and when I looked she had expected 1 or 2 ships… not a whole freaking small armada. There was at least 10-15 ships I had to deal with.

"God freaking damn it!" I roared as I fired a full round of shots from the Amagi's cannon's taking out two more ships causing my total to rise to 8 leaving 7 left. I had a problem though, I would be momentarily be vulnerable whilst I pointed the ship towards them in order to use the MDCS properly, but it was a risk I had to take and it had paid off.

During my training and reading an in depth manual provided to me by the IFN, I had figured out how to make the beam do many things, such as making it turn in an arch and changing the size of the beam, such as the width, height and density.

All of this reading was about to come to fruition as I made the turn, but just as I had aligned herself I heard a sonic boom come from overhead I saw Shirley streaking across the sky like a rocket " _So she finally did it huh, well congrats Shirley"_ Throughout the various conversations we had together I had learned that Shirley's dream was to break the sound barrier and it seemed that day was today.

But I had to put those thoughts aside as I had bigger fish to fry and as the battle before me started to intensify the MDCS started activating once more charging up its blue energy as it got into position and not long after that the beam had been fired at a much higher density than ever before destroying everything in its path leaving nothing behind in its wake when the beam had disappeared.

" _Oh crap, Perrine is gonna kill me"_ I said as I noticed I had hit the Gallian coast line in that last attack " _Huh what's that"_ I said to myself looking up seeing three people heading back to base

" _Its, Shirley, Lynne and Yoshika I guess they had to battle a neuroi as well, It looks like Shirley had to ditch her striker though….. what the hell why is Shirley naked and why is Yoshika looking like she's having a field day"_ I thought to herself for a few moment to figure out what the hell could have happened but I threw my arms up in frustration " _Screw this I'm heading back to the base"_

I then proceeded to do just that going at a steady pace due to my lack of magic. Along the way I had found and picked up Shirley's striker which had somehow managed to stay in one piece and 5 minutes later I finally had reached the dock and secured the Amagi.

I decided to go to the base and have dinner there instead of being alone tonight. So I hopped onto the bike and made my way to the main base. When I arrived at the base though there was a surprize in the form of that due to Shirley breaking the sound barrier a party was to be held outside with a barbeque.

So once everything was ready we all sat down at the table giving three cheers for Shirley before we all tucked and started eating. Once we had finished we all started to pack up but then the moment I had dreaded had come when Sanya spoke up…

"Izumi, aren't you forgetting something" she said looking at me with a smirk

"Damnit, alright I promised you after all" I said as I started to walk to a more open space

"A promise….. about what?" Lynne asked

"Hoh, this should be interesting" Mio said crossing her arms causing confusion baring Yoshika, to spread amongst the others in the group.

The words would simply not come out of my mouth about what I wanted to say and so muttering the words once more I was surrounding in the blue light and when it dies down I was greeted with the sight 9 shocked faces. I then felt a weight on my back.

"Mou… Micchy will you please stop doing that" I said pleadingly

"But it's so fun seeing you like this" she said causing me to blush

"Y-you're a neuroi!" Lynne exclaimed shakily causing the others to become more alert

"You see Sanya, this is why I was hesitant on revealing myself" I said sighing

It was at this moment Mio took the reins and managed to calm everyone down and had started to explain things whilst I was trying and failing to get Micchy off of my back, but I eventually managed it by threatening to take off and she jumped off in an instant.

Then Yoshika came over and gave me a once over and slowly one by one the rest of them did and then they all bowed and apologised to me for being hasty for their reactions. As I started to cry I said it was alright and we all started over and after I calmed myself down we all got back to packing up the stuff we used. With my neuroi form helping out making things a lot faster.

After that was done it was getting late and I was about to head back to the ship I was grabbed by the wrists by Micchy and Yoshika and I then knew that I was staying the night here. As I slowly started to drift off I was happy in the fact that everyone accepted me for who I was and I was now looking forward to the future and what it would bring.

Unknown Location

In an area known only to few, all that can be seen is darkness no one could probably tell you if anything existed whether it was biological or nonbiological. Suddenly an eerie blue glow started to emit from what looks like the center of the table and on closer inspection it has the shape of a core?

It was then that the residents of the room started to be revealed by the blow glow, but only so much could be seen in fact all that could be seen from each of the present was 2 blue pinpricks that seemed to be their eyes. Then one of them started to speak

"It seems our scouts have reported good things about our project"

"Yes, the results from the human ship have proved most useful, although we did detect a familiar signature from the human" another said

"I'm glad that we finished it in time, the red ones have been getting more aggressive lately and as for the Human, it's probably a reaction from the cannon" a third one said shrugging

"Do you think we'll need _That_ " the second one said again

"Hopefully not…" But just as the person was about to continue talking another person burst into the room

"Sir…. we have news…. from our... scouts" the person said panting

"Speak up, what happened"

"Corrosive….. warhead… sir"

Hearing this the three people became shocked at what they had just heard, wishing they really hadn't they started to converse once more.

"No this cannot be!" the second one roared

"It's much too soon, does that bastard want to win that much" the third one said

"If he has upped his game then so shall we" the first said shocking the other two

"You want to give _those_ to the humans, have you lost your mind"

"We have no choice Zion my old friend and if push comes to shove we may have to reveal _that_ as well Zaza"

"You really think it could get that bad Mizo?" Zaza asked

"Well as the humans say, better safe than sorry…. you there rookie" Mizo said to the other person standing in the room

"Yes Ma'am!" she said snapping to attention

"I want you to go down to the storage yard and gather up a batch of CT's and have them shipped out to the human ship Amagi as quick as you can, I know that girl will use them well, do you understand me"

"Yes Ma'am" the girl said running, or should I say flying, out of the room as fast as she could

"Things are only gonna get harder from here Zion, Zaza" Mizo said

"Yes, yes they are" the other two said in unison and with that the three of them left the room leaving behind the blue glow in their wake before that too went out leaving the room once again shrouded in darkness.


	9. Visitor

After the battle the previous day Izumi had gone back to the ship and quickly went back to the base to see Shirley and return her beloved striker unit to which she almost got smothered by her breasts, not to say that Izumi didn't like it she was just surprised that Shirley's way of thanking somehow differed from the norm that she was used to.

Also whilst she was there she checked up on Sanya to see if she was getting Eila to notice her more and she was happy to report that Eila had indeed started to take more notice of her but her denseness was still a bit on the high side.

Izumi also checked on the other potential couple in secret and she was surprised that their progress was steadily gaining speed and Sanya was right it seemed that Lynne was the one that looked like she was going to make a move first, so she ran off to Minna and placed a 50 pound bet on Lynne.

A good thing then happened for Izumi and that was a radio transmission from her mother, from whom she hadn't heard from in a long while, they shared their stories about their adventures and had some small talk about various things, but all good things must come to an end and their call had ended with her mother saying that she promised to talk to her again soon.

It had been two weeks since then and Minna had told everyone that a visitor was to be expected at the base soon, Izumi didn't know who this person but no doubt she was looking forward to the meeting.

Time: 10:00

Date: 26th April

Location: Skies above the North Atlantic ocean

"This is your pilot speaking, we will be arriving at croydon airfield in one hour please start preparations for landing" A voice over the intercom said before cutting off.

This caused the only other people on the plane to stir from whatever it was they were doing, The short blonde haired girl seemed to be reading a book of some kind and the long brown haired girl was writing down some notes in a journal.

"Oh good I was wondering when we we going to land, I had lost track of time" the black haired woman said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"You always had a tendency to get lost in your note taking Gertie" the blond haired girl said giggling

"Like you're one to talk Ursula, you read so much that an explosion would go off behind you and you wouldn't notice it till someone pointed it out!" Gertie yelled causing Ursula to blush in embarrassment.

Let's introduce these two, Ursula Hartmann & Gertrud 'Gertie' Ingvalt, Ursula is the brainy twin sister of our resident lazy bones Erica Hartmann and as for Gertie she is a long time friend of Ursula's since they first met each other in Neue Karlsland Rosario institute, it was a rocky start at first but slowly they became fast friends and partners working hard to develop new technologies to combat the neuroi.

Now as to the reason why these two were heading towards Britannia can all be explained from a letter that Erica had sent to her sister explaining what she had seen concerning the new arrival and her ship. From her explanation of what she had seen both Ursula and Gertie had become intrigued and decide they wanted to go and see Izumi and the Amagi to see if they can replicate what had been described to them in the letter and adapt it to their own fleet's needs.

They had planned for when they had wanted to go and had booked a flight but their plane had broken down on the runway from a previous flight and it seemed that they would have to wait a while before another plane could be found for them to use.

However their luck had taken a turn for the better when a supply plane had enough room for the two of them to fit, plus as a bonus it was heading to Britannia, so they hopped on as quick as they could and soon after they took off, that was a few hours ago and now they were getting ready to land at last.

"I'm so glad that's over" Getrie said stretching

"You really don't like long haul flights do you" Ursula said

"Nope, now let's go and get something to eat I'm starving"

"I hear that"

And with that the two of them picked a car up from the motor pool and took a side trip into London in order to grab something to eat also Ursula went shopping to get Erica some sweets and some for Gertie as she had a massive sweet tooth as well. Then after that they started the long drive to Dover where they hopefully can get some questions answered.

What they hadn't been told to them through the letter was Izumi's true nature. Now even though Erica knew this she was forbidden to tell anyone else including her family members. However the truth will be made known to them at a later time.

Meanwhile at the 501st base

Time: 15:00

Everyone, barring Sanya who was asleep and Izumi and Micchy who were out on patrol, was outside the hangar waiting for the unknown visitors to arrive, it didn't take long for a jeep to come into sight and as soon as it came to stop I immediately ran over and glomped on of the passengers.

"Sissy!" I yelled

"Good to see you too sister, now can you let me go please… can't… breathe" Ursula said tapping my shoulder to which I let go and ran over to the driver and glomped her as well.

"Gertie!, you're here too?"

"Yeah, squirt just tagging along with your sis who wants to satiate her curiosity" Gertie said giggling whilst ruffling my hair

"Hey, you're curious too" Ursula blushed

Meanwhile with the main group all of them were curious as to who the new people who arrived are and so Yoshika spoke up,

"Minna, who are those two?"

Hearing this question the two newcomers walked over whilst I was walking, or being dragged by Trude, back to the group.

"Well let's let the two of them introduce themselves shall we" Minna said gesturing to the two

"Hello, my name is Ursula Hartmann" the blond one said, causing almost everyone else to go wide-eyed in shock as they didn't know at all that I had a sister, after they had calmed down the second woman decided to speak up

"Allow me to introduce myself my name is Gertrud Ingvalt, but seeing as there is already a Gertrude already on the base you can call me by my nickname Gertie" she said in a cheery tone

After the two of them introduced themselves, we all decided to head inside but just as we went inside the hangar a bright blue glow came from behind us and as we turned around we all caught sight if a massive blue beam heading straight passed the base before finally dissipating.

"Chalk another one up for Izumi and Micchy" Shirley said with everyone smiling that another Neuroi had been defeated

"So that's the famous beam firing ship we've heard about" Gertie said with a grin on her face sending a nod to Ursula

"I can't wait to see the ship up close" sis said with stars in her eyes

"May I remind you Ursula once more, that the Amagi is under the Lieutenant-commander's strict control and anything you want to do that involves the Amagi you will have to speak with her" Minna spoke up.

"I know, I know well I'll have to wait for awhile before I go and ask then won't I" she replied still smiling

"Until tomorrow" Minna said again

"Huh"

"As I said, tomorrow Sanya is taking the night off patrol so that she can get some much needed rest so Izumi decided to take the night patrol run for today, besides you're staying for a while anyways so you've got quite a while to do what you have too"

"I guess so" Ursula said dejected

"Wait what do you want with Izumi and the Amagi anyways" Trude asked

"We want to study the ship and ask Izumi some questions and hopefully from our research we can develop our own version of that cannon" Gertie said starting to head inside.

"Do you think Izumi will tell them?" Trude whispered to me

"Don't know we'll have to wait and see" I replied

It didn't take long to get Sis and Gertie accommodated and by that time, it was time for dinner so everyone made their way to the dining room and once again Yoshika and Lynne were cooking this time but with a surprise helper in the form of little ol' me. As we sat down the radio came alive and everyone could a piano playing and then….

I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own

A doll that other fellows cannot steal

And then the flirty, flirty guys with their flirty, flirty eyes

Will have to flirt with dollies that are real

When I come home at night she will be waiting

She'll be the truest doll in all this world

I'd rather have a paper doll to call my own

Than have a fickle-minded real live girl

I guess I had a million dolls or more

I guess I've played the doll game o'er and o'er

I just quarreled with Sue, that's why I'm blue

She's gone away and left me just like all dolls do

I'll tell you boys, it's tough to be alone

And it's tough to love a doll that's not your own

I'm through with all of them, I'll never fall again

Say boy, whatcha gonna do?

I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own

A doll that other fellows cannot steal

And then the flirty, flirty guys with their flirty, flirty eyes

Will have to flirt with dollies that are real

When I come home at night she will be waiting

She'll be the truest doll in all this world

I'd rather have a paper doll to call my own

Than have a fickle-minded real live girl

And with that silence filled the room with everyone in shock at what we had heard, it was Izumi, we had just heard Izumi sing for the first time. It it didn't long for a thunderous applause to resound throughout the room but it died down soon after.

"Well, well, well it seems someone else can give Minna a run for her money" I said as Minna went red faced

"Well I wouldn't say I'm that good Erica I've still got a long way to go" Izumi said through the radio before continuing "Welp, anyways I'm off gonna start the night run so me and Micchy will see everyone on the morning, good night everyone"

"Goodnight Izumi, goodnight Micchy" everyone replied as they heard the radio link get cut off.

Dinner was then soon finished and everyone decided to turn in for the night, but not before Eila had to remind Sanya that she wasn't on patrol tonight and with that they all headed back to their rooms and went to sleep, but not before Lynne, who had gotten some advice from a certain someone, decide to 'sleepwalk' into Yoshika's room and into her bed falling into a blissful sleep.

The next day

Time: 13:00

It had been an eventful night for Izumi and Micchy, their first night time kill but what pissed them both off was that it was a neuroi that had escaped from the battle earlier in the day and they were both more than eager to destroy it and destroy it they did it was as if fireworks had been set off that night as the neuroi went up in flames.

After that it was a peaceful couple of hours until the sun peeked over the horizon signaling the start of a new day but for the two of them it was time for bed, so as the two of them docked Izumi called ahead and let Minna know what was happening and not long after that they fell into a deep sleep.

It wasn't until Izumi's roaring tummy awoke the two of them from their stupor and once they had checked the clock it was now time for lunch, Micchy giggled at Izumi's supposed 'hunger clock' as she called it and then she went into the kitchen and started making lunch for the two which when it was finished was immediately wolfed down by the duo as they both had a very important task to do today and that was performing maintenance on the MDCS.

Meanwhile with Ursula and Gertie

The morning had been filled with hustle and bustle for the two as they were running around their room getting all of the materials they would need in order to successfully conduct their research later in the day. As a result of them double checking and then triple checking to make sure that they had everything needed so much time had passed without them knowing and it had become lunchtime.

Yoshika was tasked with finding the two of them and bringing them to the dining hall to eat and when they arrived the two of them pretty much inhaled their food at a speed that only Erica could hope to match much to the shock and awe of everyone else present at the table.

Then they made one last check that they had everything and headed over to the garage where Minna and Erica were waiting for them, they loaded up and got into the kubelwagen and within a few moments they were off to the naval base.

It didn't take long for the quartet to arrive at the naval base and once again Ursula and Gertie were surprised at the architecture of the base, Erica and Minna could only giggle quietly as they were in the same position not to long ago themselves.

After they had parked up, they walked over to the docks where they all saw the Amagi docked in reverse, it was normal to see this at bigger naval yards where there is much more space, but for it to happen here was a little bit strange. it was then that a blue haired girl and a dark haired girl wearing overalls popped out of the ship's interior and they started to do what seemed to be preparations for something.

"Izumi, Yamakawa-san could you come over here for a second please" I yelled to the two and they did what they walked over to the group, Izumi saw the newcomers and then spoke.

"Well, so these are the two who want to sniff around my ship huh Minna" causing the group to become stunned

"How did you know what we were here for, we haven't even met properly" The Gertie said in shock

"It's alright Gertie I know all about yours and Ursula's reasons for being here and the main reason why I do is that Erica left her transmitter on the whole time yesterday, so both me and Micchy know what's going on and I assume you know who we are from the others correct" Izumi said making sure her overalls wouldn't fall off.

Gertie and Ursula sighed in relief about Erica being the cause of Izumi's knowledge and not the fact that she could be a spy or anything.

"Ah Minna, could you get someone else to perform our patrol run for today please"

"And your reason being?" I asked as Izumi turned to Ursula and Gertie

"Well it's your lucky day you two, I have to perform scheduled maintenance on the MDCS and all of its subsystems and then compile a report with Micchy's help before sending it to Fuso"

"Ah you did mentioned that a few days ago didn't you, alright I'll see what I can do" I said walking over to the nearest phone pole.

"Thanks Minna" Izumi replied then she turned back around to the other two and took a step back as both of them had gone starry-eyed and looked like they were raring to go and all she could do was sigh in response to their antics.

"Alright pull the lever, Micchy" Izumi yelled

"Okay" she replied

As the lever for the maintenance mode was pulled, the stern of the ship once again split apart giving the Amagi some wings but instead of the turbines floating to the top of the ship, instead two cranes folded out taking the two turbines with them and then placing on maintenance platforms that Izumi head set up previously on the dockside.

Once they were both secured to the platforms the cranes then detached themselves and folded back up inside the ship, it was then that Izumi knew from reading the manual that it was safe to proceed with the maintenance.

What was only supposed to take them a couple of hours, took Izumi and Micchy almost the rest of the day with the main reason being that Ursula and Gertie would not stop asking questions about every little intricate detail about the MDCS and it had gotten so bad that Izumi rather forcefully removed the two from the interior of the ship placed them topside and left them a stack of manuals to read so that she could finished her work in peace.

The two of them were miffed at first but slowly came to understand why Izumi did what she did, they had been in similar situations in the past after all, and so they decided to read the manuals in front of them instead. Unfortunately they were both in Fusoian but luckily Micchy was their to help from time to time plus Gertie was semi- fluent in the language as well.

By the time dinner came around Izumi and Micchy had finally finished the maintenance, but due to how long it took they would have to compile their report overnight so it can be shipped out in the morning. Izumi asked Micchy to take the two back to base saying that she could stay there and Izumi would take care of the report in her stead but before they left Izumi properly apologised to the two and they were nice about it stating that they knew why she did it.

After they had left in the truck, Izumi went a took a much needed long hot soak in the bath, after which she decided to go all out and make herself a meal fit for a king, she was quite stuffed after that, then it was on to the dreaded report.

Izumi hated paperwork as much as the next person but as Trude would say "ordnung muss sein" so she got on with it and with the help from a very talkative Sanya she finally finished the report at around 3:00am and she made sure that it was ready for dispatch the following afternoon. All it took then was a huge yawn to escape from her mouth to signal that it was time for bed and so after saying goodnight to Sanya she went straight into her bed and immediately fell into a deep sleep thankful that the day was over.


	10. First flight

Time: 08:00

Date: May 5th

Location: Main base runway

Today was a calm day for me and Micchy anyway, as for everyone else they were being pushed to their limits by Mio. The reason behind this is that everyone's striker units had been given the once over by Ursula with help from Shirley during recent maintenance and as a result everyone was basically learning to fly properly from scratch again.

The witches went up in teams of two and the most recent pair comprising of Yoshika and Lynne had just returned and were now resting. Speaking of Lynne it seems the time for confession was near. You see she had heard about Sanya getting help from me and so she did the same. I was happy for her and was looking forward to how their relationship would turn out.

Shirley and Franny were next up and of course Shirley just had to find out how fast she could do. But Ursula had restricted her from going too fast as the engines still needed to be tweaked.

I could only sigh and shake my head, I then looked over to Micchy and saw that she was staring out into space. Wondering what was going on I decided to speak up….

"Micchy are you okay?"

"Hmmmm"

"Micchy" I said snapping my finger in front of her face

"Waaaaaah!" she yelled as she was brought out of her trance

"You scared me half to death!"

"Sorry, but you were staring out into space"

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something" she said yet again staring but this time at Shirley and Franny who were still up in the air. I then knew what she was thinking about.

"You want to fly don't you Micchy"

"Yeah, seeing everyone up there makes me wonder what it's like" she replied to which I smirked and yelled

"Hey Mio, can you bring out the meadow hawk Micchy wants a flight"

"The meadow hawk huh…. alright, Miyafuji go and get ready you're taking your friend up for a flight" she said

"Yes Ma'am, come on Micchan let's go!" she beamed running over and grabbing Micchy before running into the hangar where Gertie was waiting to help the two get situated comfortably.

It didn't take long after that before the two of them were up in the air with Micchy squealing in excitement so much so that I had to take off my earpiece due to how loud she was being.

"Micchan open your eyes" I said giggling at how she was holding on to me

"Wow! This is amazing" she replied looking around in awe and wonder.

You know it was pretty nice flying in the sky with Micchy, just the two of us talking and catching up and various things. But being up here really gave me time to think and what I was thinking about was the fact that Lynne had gotten really close to me lately, could this mean she likes me?

No that can't be can it I mean I like her as a friend and yes I do dream about her boobs a bit…. Okay lot….I mean those puppies are….. arrrgh! Oh who am I kidding I love her damn it, but I just don't know how I should speak to her about it. Maybe I should visit Izumi, Sanya seems to have gotten help from her so maybe I should try it to.

It was at this point Micchan snapped me out of my thoughts and said that it was time to return to base, I think I know what'll do after dinner I'll go to Izumi and ask her from some advice.

The base was slowly starting to come into view and so I started to slow down but for some reason I couldn't as we were speeding up instead and I couldn't control it anymore.

"Uhhh…. Yoshika-chan aren't we going a bit too fast" Micchy asked

"I can't control it, the striker isn't taking my controls anymore" I replied nervously

"EHHHHHHH!" Micchan screamed as the speed continued to climb

The base was quickly coming into view and suddenly everything went from bad to worse as the right engine sputtered and stalled as an explosion occurred, the left engine followed soon after and we were in free fall.

"Micchan hold on" I said gripping her even tighter as I closed my eyes

"We got ya" A voice said and when I opened my eyes….

"Shirley, Franny!" I exclaimed

"That was a close one Let's get you two down to the ground" Shirley said as we started to descend

We all saw the accident happen and we all got scared and worried especially Lynne, but thankfully Shirley and Franny managed to get to them in time. As they landed safely Lynne pretty much dog piled Yoshika as soon as she left the striker whilst I pulled out an unconscious Micchy with the help of Sanya and Eila and put her safely on the tarmac and I gave her a once over to make sure she was alright.

With Yoshika however it looked like she was getting bombarded with questions on what happened from every direction to which she stated nervously that she didn't know. It was then that the bombshell was dropped, Lynne claimed Yoshika's lips and proudly stated that she loved her, it seems that the bets were well placed, however the surprises weren't over as Yoshika then kissed Lynne back and stated that she loved her as well.

After the shock had worn off congratulations were said all around, but as I looked over at Sanya I saw a fire in her eyes and I knew what was going to happen next. Yep she went and did it in front of everyone and thus another couple on base had been born. It seemed that Sanya made the move after seeing how bold Lynne was and much to Eila's surprise she broke down in tears of happiness knowing that Sanya had chosen her. It was then that Minna stated that there was going to be a big party tonight to celebrate the new couples.

It was then that something swishing out of the corner of my eye gained my attention and I turned around and saw something that surprised me but I quickly got over it and smiled happily before I called everyone over

"Hey guys, I think I know what happened to the striker" I said getting everyone's attention and as they walked over and saw Micchy on the floor they noticed a black tail swishing playfully under her uniform as well as two black ears moving about on her head.

"So Micchan caused the striker to go out of control" Yoshika said

"Seems so, her powers must have manifested during mid flight" I replied

"Well, Mio it seems you have a new toy to play with" Erica said grinning

"Mmmmmmmm… fresh meat" Mio said with a glint in her eye to which everyone broke into laughter

"Just don't break her too much Mio she's still my 2IC" I said

"I'll try" she replied

After that I picked up Micchy in a princess carry and took her to Yoshika's room to rest, I then went back to the others as they were setting up for the party and of course I jumped in and helped especially with cooking some Orussian treats.

This made one person extremely happy and she couldn't stop herself from drooling, not that I minded but it wasn't time for the party yet so I asked Eila to take her away from the kitchen to which she happily obliged.

It was only when Micchy woke up and had some things told to her about what had happened when she passed out, that the party truly began. Thankful though for everyone's sake the party didn't run very long and pretty soon everyone went to bed one by one. As for me I headed back to the shipyard and went into the main building to make a call.

"Operator speaking" A voice said

"Hello, can you please put me through to the Yamakawa household in Yokosuka please" I asked

"One moment please" The call then went to a holding tone and not long after the dial tone was heard and then….

"Yamakawa household, may I ask who is speaking"

"Hello, Sinon-san it's been awhile" I said

"Izumi, it has been sometime. Is something wrong?" she asked

"If you count your daughter becoming a witch as wrong…." I said jokingly, Silence then was all that could be heard until she spoke again

"My little Michiko, a witch?"

"Yep, her powers manifested earlier today however…."

"However what?"

"There was accident"

"TELL ME NOW!" she roared, I then went on to explain what had happened earlier in the day and i managed to calm her down in the process

"I'm so glad that the two of them are safe" Sinon-san said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Yeah me too, could you let Sayaka-san know please" I asked

"I will my dear"

"Thank you, now it's time for me to head to bed so until next time Shinozaki-san, good night"

"Goodnight Izumi" she replied before hanging up.

Once the call was finished I went back to my ship hopped in for a quick bath before heading back to my room and heading to bed. As I fell asleep I was feeling sorry for Micchy, for when Mio got a hold of her. I also made a mental note to request a striker unit for her when I had the chance to. With that done I finally managed to peacefully drift off into a peaceful sleep, looking forward to what the future might bring.

"Finally I made it" I said to myself grateful that my supply drop would be soon over. Oh how rude of me I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zazy and I'm a transport class Neuroi, a blue neuroi I might add I'm nothing like those red bastards trying to conquer this planet. Anyway back to what I was saying, I had gotten an order from the top to deliver some corrosion torpedo's to the human naval yard near dover and I had to be quick about it. Luckily that night witch I had heard about wasn't around tonight and I made the drop successfully placing the cargo safely on the ground.

I got out of there fast as I didn't want to get caught. It was a tense few moments but nothing followed me back, as I was getting closer to home base my thoughts wandered to how the human would handle the much firepower but that thought didn't last long as I landed back at base and went to what the humans call sleep. Before my next transport job comes along.


End file.
